Record Overdose Deaths in New York State

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is proposing a 25 point strategy for addressing the heroin and opioid addiction epidemic on the same day the State Comptroller released a report finding New York State was above the national average for overdose deaths.

The State Legislature now gets the Governor’s proposal that includes changes in insurance rules to make it easier for users to get help and new training for doctors to curb the prescribing of opioids.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office says the overdose death rates in New York State increased faster than nearly every other state collecting data over the previous decade.

The hardest-hit areas, according to the study, include Erie, Monroe, Oneida, Orange and Suffolk Counties as well as Staten Island.

The number of overdose deaths in which heroin was a factor reached a record of 825 in 2014, an increase of 24 percent over 2013.